how to reference an assignment in apa

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Referencing guide: apa 7th.

• AGLC This link opens in a new window
• Health & Medicine examples This link opens in a new window
• Transition from Harvard to APA
• General principles

In-text citations

• Works Cited
• Works Cited - Author
• Works Cited - Title
• Works cited - Title of Container
• Works Cited - Other Contributors
• Works Cited - Version & Number
• Works Cited - Publisher & Publication Date
• Works Cited - Location
• Works Cited - Optional Elements
• Works Cited - More Examples
• Simplified Author-date & Writing guide

APA 7th edition

What is apa style.

APA style  is a referencing method developed by the American Psychological Association and is a version of the commonly used  Author-Date system . 

This guide is based on the official APA website and the following text:

American Psychological Association. (2020).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.).  https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Which style does my School use? 

Some Schools or individual units require a different style from the one outlined here. Always use the citation style required by your lecturer. If in doubt, check your unit outline, in MyLO, or ask your lecturer or tutor.

• How to cite
• Multiple authors and works
• Direct quotes

In-text citations direct the reader to the Reference List to view the full details of the source.

When paraphrasing, In-text citations can be included as:

1. Parenthetical citations - by inserting the author and date in parentheses, usually at the end of a sentence, e.g....opportunity and economy are two factors that may have influenced changes in parental roles (Bomar, 2004).

2. Narrative citations - by incorporating the name of the author, followed by the date enclose in parentheses into the text of the paper, e.g. Sternberg (1993) suggests results should be carefully analysed...

• In-text citations guide, from APA Guidelines to help writers determine the appropriate level of citation and how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism
• In-text citations checklist, from APA

Multiple authors

Multiple works.

When citing multiple works in parentheses, arrange the citations in alphabetical order and separate them with semicolons, e.g.

(Citizen, 2019; Jones, 1999; Smith, 2001)

Multiple works can be arranged in any order when they are incorporated into the text of the paper (narrative citation).

• Page numbers are always included for direct quotations e.g. (Hiebert, 2009, p. 69).
• When the quote is 40 words or less d irect quotations should be placed within the text and surrounded by double quotation marks, e.g.  "we cannot possibly know and understand the culture of every individual and community we might encounter throughout the course of our careers" (Mkandawire-Valhmu, 2018, p. 24).
• When the quote is more than 40 words, direct quotations should be started on a new line and indented from the left margin, without quotation marks, e.g.

In an era of globalization, a healthcare provider needs to be prepared for encounters for people of diverse backgrounds and experiences. The culturally safe healthcare provider needs to have a deep understanding of where people have been and what they have experienced in their countries of origin. (Mkandawire-Valhmu, 2018, p. 73)

• Quotations More details from APA on how to include direct quotes in text

Reference Lists

A reference list is placed at the end of your paper. It contains the full details of all the references cited in the text of your paper. These details should be sufficient for the reader to be able to identify and locate the sources. 

• Elements of reference list entries APA provides detailed guidelines on each element of a reference.
• Author guidelines for the reference list Details for how to show individual, multiple and group authors in your reference list.
• APA guide to creating a reference list This document provides guidance on formatting the reference list.
• Quick Reference Guide to the 7th edition. This printable guide outlines how to reference books, book chapters and journal articles.
• Browse examples for each type of work APA provides many examples of commonly used reference types, for you to follow as a guide.

Fundamentals of APA This brief video conveys the simplicity of using APA 7th for citations and referencing, outlining a few fundamental characteristics of the style.

Commonly used reference types.

• Book chapters
• Journal articles

Format for a book:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book: Subtitle (edition, if not the first). Publisher. URL or DOI (if electronic)

Example of a book:

Lang, T., & Heasman, M. (2015). Food wars: The global battle for mouths, minds and markets (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315754116

• https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references Detailed instructions from APA for formatting a book.

Format for a chapter in an edited book:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (edition, pp. #–#). Publisher. DOI or URL

Example of a book chapter:

Davies, C., Robinson, K. H., Metcalf, A., Ivory, K., Mooney-Somers, J., Race, K., & Skinner, S. R. (2021). Australians of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. In T. Dune, K. McLeod, & R. Williams (Eds.), Culture, diversity and health in Australia: Towards culturally safe healthcare (pp. 213-231). Routledge.

• https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/edited-book-chapter-references Detailed instructions from APA for formatting a book chapter.

Boddy, J., & Dominelli, L. (2017). Social media and social work: The challenges of a new ethical space. Australian Social Work , 70 (2), 172–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2016.1224907

• https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references Detailed instructions from APA for formatting journal article references.

Format for a webpage:

Author. (Year, month day).  Title of the webpage . Publisher/Website Name. URL

Example of a webpage with an organisational group author:

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2015, September 23).  UNESCO and sustainable development goals.  https://en.unesco.org/sustainabledevelopmentgoals

Note: omit the publisher/website name if it is the same as the author

• https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references Detailed instructions from APA for formatting webpage references.

Examples for other sources

APA provide an extensive array of examples for different sources, including:

• Textual works e.g. books, journal articles, standards, government reports
• Audiovisual media e.g. podcast, TED Talk, YouTube clip
• Social media e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
• Webpages and web documents
• Health & medicine examples Formatting advice for some specialised health sources
• APA 7th examples for health and medicine sources v1 March 2024
• Examples from APA website Commonly used reference types for you to follow as a guide.

Further help with APA

• APA website

Some examples of topics found in the blog:

• How many names to include...? Explains and illustrates how many author names should be included in an APA reference list.
• How to cite ChatGPT An example of a blog entry, providing guidance on specific application of APA style rules to a resource type.
• The Frankenreference A blog post explaining how to craft a reference from scratch when the specific example you need is not shown anywhere.

The APA website includes comprehensive advice on how to use their referencing style. These are some of the popular topics:

• Basic principles of reference list entries
• Cite multiple works consecutively in-text
• Cite secondary sources
• DOIs and URLs
• Group author abbreviations in the text and references
• Missing reference information

Your feedback

• Tell us what you think! Feedback about this guide to APA is welcome!

APA Style Guides

We have the full APA style guide available to borrow from the University Library. 

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APA - Referencing Guide

• Assignments
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• Citation Examples
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• Annotated Bibliographies
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• All Examples
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Information

• You must provide appropriate references when referring to your own work. For students, this applies if you quote or paraphrase any work you have submitted for an assessment in another unit.

• This is necessary as all assignments include the following Student Declaration:

Except where indicated , the work I am submitting in this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted for assessment in another unit.

• This includes text, figures or tables copied from a completed assessment in a different Unit without proper acknowledgement of the original source (even if you are the original author).

Standard format for citation

Assignment from another unit

Reid, S. F. (2016). The importance of scientific method [Unpublished manuscript]. BSC100: Building Blocks for Science Students, Murdoch University.

See the  All Examples  page for examples of in-text and reference list entries for specific resources such as articles, assignments, books, and web pages.

Reference list entries.

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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

• Information for EndNote Users
• Authors - Numbers, Rules and Formatting
• In-Text Citations
• Reference List
• Books & eBooks
• Book chapters
• Journal Articles
• Conference Papers
• Newspaper Articles
• Web Pages & Documents
• Specialised Health Databases
• Using Visual Works in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Using Visual Works in Theses and Publications
• Using Tables in Assignments & Class Presentations
• Custom Textbooks & Books of Readings
• ABS AND AIHW
• Videos (YouTube), Podcasts & Webinars
• Blog Posts and Social Media
• First Nations Works
• Dictionary and Encyclopedia Entries
• Personal Communication
• Theses and Dissertations
• Film / TV / DVD
• Miscellaneous (Generic Reference)

How do I cite my own work?

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• APA Format for Assignments
• What If...?
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How you cite your own work depends on what it is, and whether or not it has been published.

Published work

If you are citing a published work, you cite it as per normal for the work (e.g., photograph, book chapter, etc). For the citation (both in-text and in the reference list) you refer to yourself by name just as you would any other author. When discussing your work in-text, the general convention is to talk about yourself in the third person, but make it clear that it is your own work you are discussion:

Previous research undertaken by this author has shown... (Bloggs, 2018).

But it may be appropriate to refer to yourself using first person pronouns, particularly if you are writing a reflective piece, so check with your lecturer.

In my previous research I found... (Bloggs, 2018)

Unpublished work

If the work can be found or sourced online by the public, it is informally published and should be treated as a web page. If it cannot be found by the public and can only be accessed by people who have been given access to the private link or sent a copy in person, then it is an unpublished work.

Photographs, illustrations, art

Unpublished photographs and works of art created for the assignment (or appearing only in the assignment/paper and no where else) are not cited - so they do not have a formal in-text citation or an entry in the reference list. Treat it as a figure, and add any necessary details in the Note section under the image.

Add "Own work" to the image if you feel it needs to be made clear that this is an image you created yourself.

Hong Kong before 2019/2020

Note . Photograph of Hong Kong taken in early 2000s. Own work.

If you are using your own image for an illustration in a PowerPoint presentation, you don't have to cite it, but you can put "Own work" on or under the image somewhere unobtrusive if you wish to avoid confusion.

When referring to your own artistic work in text, you need to make it clear that you are talking about your own work, but you do not cite it.

Previous assignments

Assignments submitted for other subjects are regarded as unpublished manuscripts, and are cited as such.

Reference list:

Bloggs, J. (2020). Lancelot does not deserve your love: Critiquing the "heroes" of Arthurian legends [Unpublished assignment submitted for EL1006]. James Cook University.

(Bloggs, 2020).

However, your past assignments are not usually considered to be a scholarly source, and most lectures do not want you to cite your previous assessment . You should only refer to past assignment work if you have been explicitly asked to do so (e.g. for a reflective assignment).

It would be much better to update your research and conclusions from the past assignment (and use new words to express your thoughts) than to refer to it or cite it.

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APA (7th ed.) Citation Style Guide: Course Related Material

• Paper Format Guidelines
• Four Elements of a Reference
• Missing Reference Information
• In-Text Citations
• Secondary Sources
• Tables and Figures
• Book Sections (Chapters)
• Reference Works
• Business Sources
• Audiovisual Material
• Social Media & Software
• Government Documents
• Open Textbooks
• Course Related Material
• Personal Communications
• Further Examples
• Legal Citation
• Nursing Resources

Power Point Slide - Blackboard

Author, A. A. (Date of posting). Title of presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Publisher. URL

Wardell, G. (2020). Diffusion and osmosis [PowerPoint slides]. Blackboard. https://douglascollege.blackboard.com/

"If the slides come from a classroom website, learning management system (e.g., Canvas, Blackboard), or company intranet and you are writing for an audience with access to that resource, provide the name of the site and its URL (use the login page URL for sites requiring login)." ( Publication manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed., 2020, p. 347)

Power Point Slide - URL

Author, A. A. (Date of posting).  Title of presentation  [PowerPoint slides]. Publisher or Website name. URL

Hertzman, C. (2020). Aboriginal ECD in BC [PowerPoint slides]. UBC Human Early Learning Partnership. http://www.earlylearning.ubc.ca/presentations_general.htm# clyde

Parenthetical citation: (Hertzman, 2020)

Narrative citation: Hertzman (2020)

Lecture Notes

Canan, E., & Vasilev, J. (2019, May 22). [Lecture notes on resource allocation]. Department of Management, Control and Information Systems, University of Chile. https://uchilefau.academia.edu/ElseZCanan

Example taken from the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed., 2020, p. 347

Parenthetical citation: (Canan & Vasilev, 2019)

Narrative citation: Canan and Vasilev (2019)

Class Handout

Instructor's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if given. (Year Handout Was Created if known). Title of handout: Subtitle if any [Class handout]. Blackboard. URL

Hwang, J. (2021). Study skills: Core principles for success [Class handout]. Blackboard. https://douglascollege.yourblackboardlink.com

Instructor's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if given. (Year Handout Was Created if known). Title of handout: Subtitle if any [Class handout]. University Name, Course code.

Hwang, J. (2021) Study skills: Core principles for success [Class handout]. Douglas College, BUSN 1200.

Parenthetical citation: (Hwang, 2021)

Narrative citation: Hwang (2021)

Classroom Lecture

Unrecorded classroom lectures are considered personal communications (works that can not be recovered by readers).  APA instructs to "use a personal citation only when a recoverable source is not available.  For example, if you learned about a topic via a classroom lecture, it would be preferable to cite the research on which the instructor based the lecture.  However, if the lecture contained original content not published elsewhere, cite the lecture as a persona communication."  ( Publication manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed., 2020, p. 260)

Personal communications are cited in the text only, not in the reference list.

Parenthetical citation:  (R. Morris, personal communication, June 8, 2020)

Narrative citation:  R. Morris (personal communication, June 8, 2020)

Customized Textbook

Chang, T. (Ed.). (2019).  CRIM 2251: Psychological explanations of crime  (Douglas College ed.). Pearson.

Parenthetical citation: (Chang, 2019)

Narrative citation: Chang (2019)

Note: T. Chang is the instructor of the course.  She compiled the customized textbook and is considered the editor.

Chapter in a Customized Textbook

Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2014). Crime and mental disorders. In T. Chang (Ed.), CRIM 2251: Psychological explanations of crime  (Douglas College ed.) (pp. 101-144). Pearson.

Parenthetical citation: (Bartol & Bartol, 2014)

Narrative citation: Bartol and Bartol (2014)

Course Pack - Basic Format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of document. In A. Instructor (Ed.),  Course number: Course title  (pp. xxx-xxx). Douglas College. (Reprinted from  Title of journal, volume (issue), page numbers).

Course packs are collections of materials that instructors compile from many sources. Treat the items in your course pack like articles or chapters in an edited book that are reprinted from another source. Use the name of the instructor as the editor. If the instructor's name is not given, use the department as editor. Use the date the course pack was issued as the date of publication. If there is no date of issue, use the current semester and year for the date of publication.

Course Pack

Collins, D. (2020). Legally speaking: Risk management in obstetrics and gynecology. In S. Kaye (Ed.), NURS 3130: Professional growth, nursing  ethics course pack (pp.5-8). Douglas College. (Reprinted from Contemporary OB/GYN, 51(11), 38-42).

Parenthetical citation: (Collins, 2020)

Narrative citation: Collins (2020)

Course Pack - Individual Page

Philosophical foundations, curriculum concepts and themes. (n.d) In L. Kirk (Ed.). (2012),  NURS 1130: Professional growth I  (pp. 95-96). Douglas College.

Parenthetical citation: ("Philosophical foundations", n.d.)

Narrative citation: "Philosophical foundations" (n.d.)

"If the title of the work is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation." ( Publication manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th ed., 2020, pp. 264-265)

Original Material in a Classroom Course Pack, No Author

Diagram of the tibia-basitarsis joint in Apis Melifera . (2015). In B. Haave (Ed.), NEU 451: Movement and perception (pp.44-45). Douglas College.

Parenthetical citation: ("Diagram of the Tibia-Basitarsis Joint in Apis melifera ," 2019)

Narrative citation: "Diagram of the Tibia-Basitarsis Joint in  Apis melifera ," 2019

(For further information see https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/classroom-course-references)

Course Pack - Appendix

Appendix 2: Curriculum framework glossary of terms (2018) In L. Kirk (Ed.) (2012),  NURS 1130: Professional growth I  (pp. 144-153). Douglas College.

Parenthetical citation: ("Appendix 2", 2018)

Narrative citation: "Appendix 2" (2018)

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• Introduction
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• Conference Presentations and Publications
• Dissertations and Theses
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• Images and Advertisements
• Missing Information
• Multiple Authors
• Personal Communications (E-mails, Interviews, etc.)
• Previous Coursework
• Religious Works
• Secondary Source/Indirect Citation (as cited in)
• Social Media
• Video and Audio
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Annotated Bibliographies
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APA 7th Edition Citation Guide Previous Coursework

How to cite yourself.

When citing a paper that you wrote for a previous class, consider yourself as the author and your previous course work as an unpublished paper. Include [Unpublished manuscript] in brackets after the title.

Reference Page Format:

Author, (year written). Title [Unpublished manuscript]. Institution.

Reference Page Example:

O’Toole, T. (2019).  An analysis of pre-WWII leaders  [Unpublished manuscript]. Concordia University, St. Paul.  

In-text Citation Examples:

According to O’Toole (2019)... ...(O’Toole, 2019). ...(O’Toole, 2019, p. 4).

Blackboard Lectures and PowerPoints

Sources on Blackboard, such as recorded lectures and PowerPoints, are not available to people outside of your institution. If the audience of your paper is your professor and/or classmates who have access to the content, use the following examples.

If your audience is not enrolled in your course or part of your institution and therefore does not have access to the content, cite the content as a Personal Communication .

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title [Format]. Blackboard@CSP.  https://csp.blackboard.com/

Neilson, J. (2022, September 1).  What the library can do for you  [PowerPoint Slides]. Blackboard@CSP.  https://csp.blackboard.com/

According to Neilson (2022)... ...(Neilson, 2022).

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Last Updated: Jun 22, 2023 Views: 194712

If you want to re-use portions of a paper you wrote for a previous assignment or course, you need to take care to avoid self-plagiarism. The APA Manual (7th edition, p. 21) defines self-plagiarism as “the act of presenting one's own previously published work as original." This includes entire papers, and also slightly altered work. Self-plagiarism is a violation of SNHU’s Academic Honesty Policy ( Online Student Academic Integrity Policy This link opens in a new window ,  Campus Student Academic Integrity Policy This link opens in a new window ). To avoid self-plagiarism, you should request approval from your instructor to use portions of your prior work, and you also need to provide a proper citation within your paper.

If you are citing your own writing from a paper submitted for a previous course, then you would generally cite it as an unpublished manuscript. Here are specific examples of how it works in the three major citation styles:

Please check with your instructor to verify if you can use a previous work as it may violate academic integrity, honor codes, etc. If you are permitted to quote or paraphrase from earlier work, students should cite the work, following the unpublished work template (Section 10.8, p. 336). You can change “Unpublished manuscript” to “Unpublished paper” or another phrase.

Reference Page General Format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the work [Unpublished paper]. Department Name, University Name.

Reference Page Example

Fisher, J. D. (2021). This is the title of my paper [Unpublished paper]. English Department, Southern New Hampshire University.

In-Text Example

(Fisher, 2021)

According to the MLA Style site, authors should cite their work the same way they would cite any other source (book, article, etc.). In the text you can refer to yourself (e.g. "In my work...").

Works Cited General Format

Author Last name, Author First Name. "Title of Your Paper: Subtitle of Your Paper." Date. Name of the Course, Institution, Type of Work.

Works Cited Example

Lee, Cody. "My Student Paper: Why I Like This Subject a Lot." 9 Sept. 2021. New Media: Writing and Publishing, Southern New Hampshire University, student paper.

In-Text Citation Example

See the MLA Style pages Citing Your Own Work This link opens in a new window and How do I cite an unpublished student paper? This link opens in a new window for more information.

Chicago Style

Per the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition), unpublished works such as theses and dissertations are cited like books, with the exception that titles of unpublished works appear in quotations, not italics. Also, the type of paper, the academic institution, and the date follow the title.

For published works, please consult the Chicago Style Table of Contents This link opens in a new window for the type of source and follow the formatting guidelines associated.

Bibliography General Format

Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Paper." Essay, Southern New Hampshire University, Year.

Bibliography Example

Wendell, Richard. "This Is the Title of My Paper." Essay, Southern New Hampshire University, 2021.

Note Example

2. Richard Wendell, "This Is the Title of My Paper" (essay, Southern New Hampshire University, 2021), 4.

More Information

• Citing Your Sources  (Shapiro Library) research guide.  

Further Help

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please be sure to speak to your professor about the appropriate way to cite sources in your class assignments and projects.

Campus Students

To access Academic Support, visit your Brightspace course and select “Tutoring and Mentoring” from the Academic Support pulldown menu.

Online Students

To access help with citations and more, visit the Academic Support via modules in Brightspace:

• Academic Support Overview: Getting Help with your Schoolwork This link opens in a new window

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APA Sample Paper

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This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Media Files: APA Sample Student Paper  ,  APA Sample Professional Paper

This resource is enhanced by Acrobat PDF files. Download the free Acrobat Reader

Note: The APA Publication Manual, 7 th Edition specifies different formatting conventions for student  and  professional  papers (i.e., papers written for credit in a course and papers intended for scholarly publication). These differences mostly extend to the title page and running head. Crucially, citation practices do not differ between the two styles of paper.

However, for your convenience, we have provided two versions of our APA 7 sample paper below: one in  student style and one in  professional  style.

Note: For accessibility purposes, we have used "Track Changes" to make comments along the margins of these samples. Those authored by [AF] denote explanations of formatting and [AWC] denote directions for writing and citing in APA 7. 

APA 7 Student Paper:

Apa 7 professional paper:.

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• How to cite a website in APA Style

How to Cite a Website in APA Style | Format & Examples

Published on November 5, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

APA website citations usually include the author, the publication date, the title of the page or article, the website name, and the URL. If there is no author, start the citation with the title of the article. If the page is likely to change over time, add a retrieval date.

If you are citing an online version of a print publication (e.g. a newspaper , magazine , or dictionary ), use the same format as you would for print, with a URL added at the end. Formats differ for online videos (e.g. TED Talks ), images , and dissertations .

Use the buttons below to explore the format, or use our free APA Citation Generator to automatically create citations.

Cite a website in APA Style now:

Table of contents, citing an entire website, how to cite online articles, websites with no author, websites with no date, how to cite from social media, frequently asked questions about apa style citations.

When you refer to a website in your text without quoting or paraphrasing from a specific part of it, you don’t need a formal citation. Instead, you can just include the URL in parentheses after the name of the site:

One of the most popular social media sites, Instagram (http://instagram.com), allows users to share images and videos.

For this kind of citation, you don’t need to include the website on the reference page . However, if you’re citing a specific page or article from a website, you will need a formal in-text citation and reference list entry.

Scribbr Citation Checker New

The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

Various kinds of articles appear online, and how you cite them depends on where the article appears.

Online articles from newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Articles appearing in online versions of print publications (e.g. newspapers and magazines) are cited like their print versions, but with an added URL.

The same format is used for blog posts. Just include the blog name where you would usually put the name of the magazine or newspaper.

Articles from online-only news sites

For articles from news sites without print equivalents (e.g. BBC News, Reuters), italicize the name of the article and  not  the name of the site.

When a web page does not list an individual author, it can usually be attributed to an organization or government . If this results in the author name being identical to the site name, omit the site name, as in the example below.

If you can’t identify any author at all, replace the author name with the title of the page or article.

In the in-text citation , put the title in quotation marks if it is in plain text in the reference list, or in italics if it is in italics in the reference list. Note that title case is used for the title here, unlike in the reference list. Shorten the title to the first few words if necessary.

When a web page or article does not list a publication or revision date, replace the date with “n.d.” (“no date”) in all citations.

If an online source is likely to change over time, it is recommended to include the date on which you accessed it.

As social media posts are usually untitled, use the first 20 words of the post, in italics, as a title. Also include any relevant information about the type of post and any multimedia aspects (e.g. videos, images, sound, links) in square brackets.

On some social media sites (such as Twitter ), users go by usernames instead of or in addition to their real names. Where the author’s real name is known, include it, along with their username in square brackets:

In some cases, you’ll want to cite a whole social media profile instead of a specific post. In these cases, include an access date, because a profile will obviously change over time:

When citing a webpage or online article , the APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and year of publication. For example: (Worland & Williams, 2015). Note that the author can also be an organization. For example: (American Psychological Association, 2019).

If you’re quoting you should also include a locator. Since web pages don’t have page numbers, you can use one of the following options:

• Paragraph number: (Smith, 2018, para. 15).
• Heading or section name: ( CDC, 2020, Flu Season section)
• Abbreviated heading:  ( CDC, 2020, “Key Facts” section)

When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the location of the passage in your APA in-text citation . If there are no page numbers (e.g. when citing a website ) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings, paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:

(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).

Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be used in ebook citations , as they are unreliable.

If you are referring to the source as a whole, it’s not necessary to include a page number or other marker.

When no individual author name is listed, but the source can clearly be attributed to a specific organization—e.g., a press release by a charity, a report by an agency, or a page from a company’s website—use the organization’s name as the author in the reference entry and APA in-text citations .

When no author at all can be determined—e.g. a collaboratively edited wiki or an online article published anonymously—use the title in place of the author. In the in-text citation, put the title in quotation marks if it appears in plain text in the reference list, and in italics if it appears in italics in the reference list. Shorten it if necessary.

APA Style usually does not require an access date. You never need to include one when citing journal articles , e-books , or other stable online sources.

However, if you are citing a website or online article that’s designed to change over time, it’s a good idea to include an access date. In this case, write it in the following format at the end of the reference: Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-uva/about-the-university/about-the-university.html

Instead of the author’s name, include the first few words of the work’s title in the in-text citation. Enclose the title in double quotation marks when citing an article, web page or book chapter. Italicize the title of periodicals, books, and reports.

No publication date

If the publication date is unknown , use “n.d.” (no date) instead. For example: (Johnson, n.d.).

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). How to Cite a Website in APA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/website/

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